Galesburg man gets 20 years in gas station robbery

Thursday

Mar 20, 2014 at 10:02 PM

GALESBURG (GHMI) — A Galesburg man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for robbing a gas station.

Anthony J. Williams, 37, was found guilty in October of multiple charges — including aggravated robbery, aggravated battery, robbery and theft — in the 2012 heist at the Shell gas station on Grand Avenue. Still, Williams asked the court to consider other factors in determining sentencing.

“I’m not an animal,” Williams said.

At trial, testimony showed Williams lunged across the Shell counter in an attempt to grab cash while buying a pop. Williams, while intimating he was carrying a gun, also battered the gas station’s clerk.

At Wednesday’s sentencing, deputies from the Knox County Jail described Williams’ wild behavior there. According to 100 pages of incident reports, Williams — who has an extensive criminal history in Illinois and Oregon — spat on deputies and engaged in altercations with them and other inmates.

But Williams’ attorney, Geoffrey Campbell, said much of Williams’ behavior issues stem from emotional problems since childhood. Campbell blamed Williams’ stints in foster homes, plus his witnessing the sexual molestation of one relative by another.